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New breed of Australian coaches have export potential

Craig Foster

Vanguard … assistant and head coach at the Heart, Ante Milicic and John Aloisi. Photo: Getty Images

Isolation has been a major factor in disconnecting our football from the global marketplace, especially intellectually, but with sound thinking isolation can become an advantage and allow Australia to produce our own style of game.

And our own type of coaches.

Like the Yugoslavs in the '80s, the Brazilians and Dutch in the '90s and the Barcelona coaches today, as a country tastes international success home-grown coaches become highly sought after to transmit their football around the world.

Coaching can become a lucrative export industry in the football economy when a nation becomes known for promoting a distinctive and desirable style of game. This should be Australia's goal, especially in Asia.

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As the Chinese and Middle Eastern football markets grow, the appetite for high-level professional coaches will increase exponentially. Football Federation Australia is planning for this future with new coaching licences that teach a proactive style of game and the diverse and complex methodology required to bring it to life.

I believe we should aim to become an attacking football culture well known and respected within Asia, and later the world, for producing technicians with the boldness born of the Great Southern Land; known for having the tools to produce exciting football acquired through a leading-edge education process.

This style of football would be almost proprietary - unique to Australia and easily identifiable. This brand would become apparent in time through our junior national teams as they continue to learn how to control the ball and the game in any context.

Although there is still a discussion to be had about how best to use our physical characteristics within a consistent style of play, we are well on our way towards this long-term outcome with a new generation of highly trained coaches coming through every day.

The shift towards playing a different style of football based on possessing the ball and building the play has been tremendously important and has spread across the game from the grassroots and beyond.

As I travel around the country, it is clear that young coaches everywhere have a desire for their teams to play thinking football and are seeking the tools to make it happen. It is vital the A-League leads the way through example.

It took a while. We started with the old-style hoof-and-boof in the early years but in recent times there has been a shift towards a more advanced form of football, although there is still a long way to go. For that reason, it was positive to see Wellington Phoenix declare their intention to pay a more possession-based game despite their present struggles to implement that plan.

A caveat, however. It is important that a mix of styles prevails so that the league doesn't become one-dimensional. The league must offer a limited mix of tactical problems to confront, making the more counter-attacking style of the Mariners and Wanderers an important counter-balance to those teams seeking control of the ball, rather than the space.

That both Central Coast and Western Sydney are experiencing success makes perfect sense, given that teams trying to control the game are only taking their first steps on a very steep learning curve.

Most interesting is the success of two debutant coaches, Tony Popovic and John Aloisi. Popovic has demonstrated an understanding of tactical adaptation with the Wanderers that the league has not seen before. He has raised the bar. Aloisi has the Heart on the cusp of finals football, above at least four coaches with decades more experience.

I would like to see the new generation of coaches have an even greater presence. Their international experience makes them far more likely to accelerate the progress of the league after years of stagnation. The likes of Aloisi, Popovic, Heart assistant coach Ante Milicic, and Young Socceroos coach Paul Okon also represent our first chance to export a coach to the higher levels of Europe. A coach based on the continent would provide an important role model and a link to the latest methods - turbocharging our growth.

The trend towards brain over brawn is critical for our future as we seek to develop a dominant attacking brand in Asia. When even Perth Glory and the Phoenix start to play this kind of football, you know we are on our way.